School Agers.....

[MarinaVanessa]

I have to join "the club" too I'm afraid. As of this week I changed the age ranges that I will accept from 6 weeks-12 years to 6 weeks-6 years . Sorry but it just irritates me when an older child is just plain rude. By that time (if the child hasn't been with me since he was young) it's really too late for me to change the child, well actually I just don't feel like I should have to put in all of the work to change the child's attitude and the parents sit back and do nothing or worse; undo what I "fixed". It's obvious that rude children at daycare are rude children at home.

I'll stick to infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers and kindergarteners thank you very much . I enjoy them all a lot more.

[Live and Learn]

When it is just my own school aged children here with their friends we really don't have many issues.
But when you mix my dck with sa ....that is the problem. My own sa children are great with my lil dc kids. The behavior heads south when.....somebody else's..... school agers are added to the mix with my lil dc kids!

[DCMomOf3]

oh no. school age in the summer is painful. entirely. they get too antsy and bored and un-creative.

[lil angels]

I am in the club to. I have my own sa and he is normally ok I can send him to his room if I need to get him out of the mix. I do not take sa in of off the street I will keep them if I had them since baby. But now I have 4 because they have all grew up here and I am not looking forward to summer.

[Jenjo]

This last summer was the worst one for me, because of my SA, I am quitting completely at the end of summer this year but I already told the SA parents I will not watch any of them this summer. Mine are all very rude and disrespectful. They are constantly bored or fighting with each other. They really do not get along. Their parents don't get a long either. I live in a small town.
Yesterday they had been doing spit wads when I told them to clean it up one boy said hahahaha we got away with it for a while, with a smile on his face. His brother totally complained that he had to pick them up. I have had problems with a 6 year old bullying a sweet 5 year old drop in, I had. Actually he is a bit of a bully to lots of kids. Oh 4 months and I am done!
I really think my SA kids are just especially hard! I don't think they are all like this, but the experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, a very bad one.

[Blackcat31]

The worst things my SA'ers over the last few years have done is:

moon passing traffic
throw snowballs at passing cars
broke the neighbors garage window out by throwing rocks
broke several toddler ride on toys
broke large tree branches from the climbing tree
stuffed my dryer vent full of leaves and grass
threw rocks down the furnace exhaust vent
tried to flush a favorite toy so his brother couldn't have it
bite someone (biter was 8/victim was 3)
kicked ALL my playground balls down the street (we are on a hill)
threw many of my outdoor toys over the fence into the neighbors yard
tried to use climbing rope to tie around another child's neck
buried all my Tonka trucks in sandbox atleast 3 feet deep
one dcg who was 9 got her tongue stuck to the fence every winter! DUH!!
shoved a 5 year old off of play castle and broke his arm
slowly and meticulously stole all my hotwheel cars in their pockets
conned a 4 yr old into coloring his arms & legs with a permanent marker he brought from home

I'm sure there is more but that was what I thought of off the top of my head

SA'ers are too much trouble for me.

[AmandasFCC]

Oh I am so part of this club. I find I have to spend more time directly supervising my school kids than the toddlers in the group. It never ceases to amaze me.

[My Lil' Monkeys]

So, after this school year I will no longer be providing after school care. I have yet to decide what I am going to do about this summer. Considering I can hardly tolerate my afternoons, not sure how i could handle them all day during the summer. I certainly admire everyone who enjoys this age and care's for them, but as for me, not sure how I am going to make it through the rest of the school year. Every afternoon is just stressful and irritating. I dread 3:30....

I'm in the same boat! I love my infants and toddlers!! My group is from 10 months to 3 years. I accepted a 6 yr old because I needed the money but I dread Fridays (she has school M-TH)!! No, I hate Fridays now... she can't keep herself entertained at all!! I feel like all do is find things for her to do other than sit on my couch and watch TV. She can be rude - telling me today that she doesn't like peanut butter so we can't have that for lunch, or that she won't drink milk. She's the sister of the 3 yr old and I've decided that I'm not doing SA this summer - at all (which yes, I know that I'll lose the sister but I need my sanity)... there is no way I would make the summer everyday with her!! I'm sorry... give me butts to wipe, baby's screaming, noses to wipe over SA any day... (I do love my own SA!!! He's awesome!! But he's mine and I wouldn't trade him for the world!! )

[VanessaEO]

Wow! I had NO IDEA I wasn't alone in my preference for younger kids.

When I worked at a DC center, I LOVED the SA classroom. But I just let my last SA family go, and I'm so glad that I did.

My rule right now is 6 weeks to K. I'm not planning on watching K age kids. I may change my mind when my current kids because K age - but I'm not taking new kids that old.

[AfterSchoolMom]

I have to agree with MissNikki. I really enjoy the older bunch. Before last week, I cared for SA's exclusively. Now I have SA's and babies. We'll see which I end up liking better.

[QualiTcare]

Wow! I had NO IDEA I wasn't alone in my preference for younger kids.

When I worked at a DC center, I LOVED the SA classroom. But I just let my last SA family go, and I'm so glad that I did.

My rule right now is 6 weeks to K. I'm not planning on watching K age kids. I may change my mind when my current kids because K age - but I'm not taking new kids that old.

what was it that made you love the SA in a center, but not at home?